but economists are not warning about a sequel to the big short because that rating from fitch that we talked about earlier, they re predicting a mild recession. keyword, mild. mild could still mean tens of thousands of americans losing their jobs and small businesses closing and wage cuts, all of which doesn t feel particularly mild if it s happening to you. but big picture, there is bad and then there s catastrophic. and catastrophic is not in the forecast. now, the politics of this are unavoidable. the economy is the single biggest issue of importance for voters, some of whom have already cast their ballots. you might think it makes sense for democrats to avoid this scary subject altogether. senator bernie sanders was on this show last friday, however, implying that democrats have spent too much time running away from this topic. sanders thinks that s a losing strategy. in other words, he s channelling james carville, who worked to get clinton elected after the 1990 recession. it
and look at the other numbers. the next top ranking issues, abortion, immigration, crime, guns, are all at 5% or less. so, what might that mean for candidates across country? republicans are seeing a boost in polls. in wisconsin, pennsylvania, even new york, as americans continue to struggle with rising prices. when i talk to senator bernie sanders last week, as i mentioned, don t assume that republicans have the answers. and the irony here, is republicans say, they talk about the economy. really not one of them is going to vote to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. not one of them is going to vote for legislation that makes it easier for workers to join unions. not one of them is going to vote to do what other major country on earth does and guarantee health care for all people. nor will they vote to raise taxes on billionaires, at a time when the richest people in this country pay nothing in federal
gerald ford, tried to come up with a slogan, with wig inflation now, in part of the wind campaign, these shiny red buttons. inspire americans to spend less, conserve energy, a spoiler alert? it did not work. the campaign was marked as one of the biggest government public relations wonders ever. so forward, loss and economic hard times continued, and three short years president jimmy carter called for some american sacrifice to combat a natural gas shortage, all wall dressed like mr. rogers. all of us must learn to waste less energy. simply by keeping our thermostats, for instance, at 65 degrees in the daytime, and 55 degrees at night. 55 at night! good luck. i don t control the thermostat in my house. but i digress. a few
$2 trillion trillion with a tri- to continue to ease the pain of the pandemic. that included hundreds in billion of direct checks to americans. at that time, it wasn t just republicans. it was also former clinton treasury secretary larry summers warning biden this could be too much spending. it could lead to the inflation that we re seeing now. i think policy is rather overdoing it, taking very substantial risks on the inflation side. but the biden administration poo-pooed the inflation warnings. summers added, quote, we re in more danger than we ve been in my career of losing control of inflation in the u.s. is he wrong? i think he s wrong. i don t think we re about to lose control of inflation. but treasury secretary janet yellen was the one who was wrong.
president gerald ford tried to come up with a campaign, win. a way to inspire americans to spend less and conserve energy. it didn t work. it was mocked as one of the biggest public government relations blunders ever. ford lost and economic hard times continued. three short years later, president jimmy carter called for american sacrifice to combat a natural gas shortage, all while dressed like mr. rogers. all of us must learn to waste less energy simply by keeping our thermostats, for instance, at 65 degrees in the day time and 55 degrees at night. 55 at night. good luck. i don t control the thermostat in my house, but i digress. a few years later, america s inflation rate hit a record high of 14.6%. voters kicked president carter out of the white house. then there s president h.w.